ACADEMIC DECATHLON; STUDENTS PUT THEIR SMARTS TO THE TEST.

Byline: Gloria Gonzales Daily News Staff Writer

``What literary device is used in both Robert Browning's `Porphyria's Lover' and Elizabeth Bishop's `The Fish'?'' Cecille Ascuncion asked two teammates on the Simi Valley High School Academic Decathlon team, as the three went to take the first of six tests administered Saturday as part of the Ventura County Academic Decathlon.

``Enjambment,'' the trio recited in unison, naming the poetic device of linking two sentences or couplets.

``And what are we doing now? It's called cramming!'' Howard Chun, another team member, shouted as the group walked toward the first testing room.

The Simi Valley High team, which has won the county title for the past two years, joined 13 teams from all over the county for the final day of competition. Between tests, competitors nervously clutched calculators - regulation devices allowed for the math portion of the competition - or hastily reviewed stacks of well-worn notes.

All of them awaited the Super Quiz, the final event of the day, a public quiz scheduled for the evening on this year's topic, ``The Global Economy.''

Students would find out each team's rank after the Super Quiz and, based on those rankings, learn which teams would progress to the state championships.

And though this year Simi Valley and Moorpark high schools appeared to be the top contenders going into the daylong competition, most students and coaches repeated this time-honored wisdom:

``All the students here today are winners; it's a success just to be here,'' said Moorpark High team coach Larry Jones. ``I told my students this at the beginning of the term, and they presented me with a . . . plaque with these words on it last night - `It's the journey and not the destination.' ''

Students agreed that study skills and teamwork were the most important lessons yielded by the months of work leading up to Saturday's competition.

The county's reigning decathlon champ, Simi Valley High's team, also felt that the competition with rival Moorpark High (the winner in 1993 and 1994) was healthy, one that pushed both schools to new heights this year.

``It's a pretty intense competition, but it's a good thing; it forces both teams to work harder,'' said Erika Supetran of Simi Valley High.

Team supporters spent the day providing encouragement and reminding students of the real lesson behind the months of training.

``They might have learned math and science and art,'' said parent volunteer Leanne Marlier, whose daughter, Laura, competed on the Moorpark High team, ``but the more important things they learned were perseverance, patience and teamwork.''

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3 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color--Ran in Conejo Edition only) Thousand Oaks High student Mary Fletcher concentrates on a math quiz.

(2--Color in Simi Edition only) Simi Valley High's Howard Chun, Erika Supetran and Cecille Ascuncion prepare for the competition.

(3--Ran in Simi Edition only) Larry Jones, coach of the academic team from Moorpark High School, gives one of his students a good-luck hug before Saturday's competition.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News